The "Spanish Chair" and Fortaleza San Felipe!

Alexa says that she loves the kids she is teaching!  The volunteers have been divided between 4 or so different schools, so each group of teachers goes their own way each morning, some take a taxi, but Alexa's group of 4 teachers walk....the long 3 minute journey!  The school she teaches at is called La Yuca. 



They teach two separate classes.  The morning class is a small group of 11 students,  they are a bit older and have been in the ILP program for a while and are absolute angels!  The afternoon class is a much larger and younger group -- between 25-35 kids.  They have not achieved angel status, yet!  Alexa says that it can be a little trying when they are swearing at you in Spanish and flipping you off!  



A couple of interesting things about the class:  Only English is allowed in class, and if you revert to Spanish then you get sent to the "Spanish Chair", which is like a timeout chair.  Also, the children have a chance to earn tickets, through good behavior, good work, following instructions,etc.  Then on Fridays they get to "shop" in the school store.  They love getting to choose things from the store, rings are a big hit with both genders apparently!   They can't say her name so they call her Teacher Kat! (short for Kathryn).

Some of the teachers took a few hours and went to visit a historical site nearby, Fortaleza San Felipe, or Fort San Felipe. It is a historic Spanish fortress located in the province of Puerto Plata.  It is also known as El Morro de San Felipe and was used to protect the City of Puerto Plata from pirates. It is located on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean; its strategic location protected the entrance to the city's seaport. It was completed in 1577.  It was rainy but interesting.  This weekend a bunch of the girls will be headed to the Casa Marina Beach for a long weekend.  Lucky girls!

Day 13 - The Teaching Begins!

I haven't gotten many details over the last few days from Alexa.  I think she has been busy -- both teaching, which they began this week, and exploring the area!  The area of Puerto Plata, where they live, is central to many natural wonders, beaches, and historical places.

  I look forward each day to hearing more about what she is doing and seeing those amazing pictures.  

A puppy, that will join all the
rest of the homeless dogs
that run free everywhere and
constantly look hungry.  Alexa
wishes she could feed them all!

Hopefully I will have more details to share for the next post! In the meantime, here are her latest pictures -- and yes, the water and sky really are that blue!

Day 7 - OUCH, that hurt!

On Saturday the volunteers had a day trip arranged.  They boarded a bus and drove to the docks where they boarded a yacht that would take them out to an island for snorkeling and playing on the beach.  Alexa was disappointed with the snorkel part because the only living creature they encountered, besides plant life, was a starfish!

  After being there for a couple of hours they boarded another bus and drove for almost two hours to a place where they could zipline from some cliffs across a lagoon and then partway across you let go and land in the water below.  The trick is to hold on until the proper release point, and this is where the 'ouch' comes in!  Alexa said she grabbed ahold of the overhead bar and then pushed off with her feet, she was supposed to hang on and glide over the water for a bit, letting go close to the kayak you see in the picture...

 but instead her hands slipped and she tumbled 50 feet down...landing in the water, among some rocks that were underneath.  It knocked the wind out of her and hurt her ribs a lot.  She is still feeling the after affects.

On a brighter note, she enjoys the cold delicious ice cream!  Also, today is the first day of teaching the kids English so I am excited to get an update to share with you later!

Day 5 - I am definitely NOT in New Jersey/Utah anymore!

Wow!  Life is different in the DR.  So much has happened in these last few days!  We have two delightful women that work to make our life easier - one cooks our yummy meals and the other is what we call a 'house mother', she doesn't live with us but will show us around the first couple weeks, showing us where to shop, buy ice cream, etc!

Over the past few days we went to the beach for a few hours and then went and toured the two schools where we will be teaching.  These are very humble places, with broken chairs the norm, but happy, smiling kids.  The kids just wanted to hug and be near us.  They literally have nothing.

That night we were instructed that before we go to sleep we should spray ourselves head to toe with mosquito spray, and then spray the windows and doors.  Later we hung up new mosquito nets around our beds.  The worst part so far was taking some clothes out of my suitcase and finding a beetle as big as my palm hiding there....all I could do was cry...real tears.  I hate bugs, especially big ones.

Here are some views from our apartment's balcony. The kids find anywhere to play!  Often times they come to the gate at the front of our apartment (it is a tall barred fence) and call out to us.  We are not allowed to give them anything, not food, money, prizes, if we did they would never leave and there would be scores of children begging at our gate.

I am making some great friends with this group of girls and a few of us even enjoyed a run to the beach and back!

There are little fruit and food stands everywhere.  One stand we stopped at for ice-cream had a ten year old boy running it, and the entire time he had this huge smile across his face.  He didn't understand a word we said but he sure did smile!

Arrival - Day 1

Finally! After many long months of waiting, a late night of packing, and an early morning drive to JFK airport, Alexa is now in the Dominican Republic.  This will be her home for the three months.

At the airport she met up with a whole bunch of fellow ILP DR volunteers who had left the previous night from Salt Lake City.  Everyone was so excited! The flight from NYC took about 3.5 hours, and so around 11am the group had arrived.




After arriving, the girls were transported to their apartment and then taken on a walk around their neighborhood.  It is a very poor area.  She said there are stray dogs everywhere, looking for food and just wandering.  The people seemed to be all outside, sitting in front of their houses or standing talking.  And the children....the children stole her heart immediately!  As they walked down the street the children would run up to them and throw their arms around their legs, and in their limited English proclaim, "Teacher!".



Alexa also says it is so humid that she is "swimming in sweat!"  Doesn't that paint a pretty picture!  Dinner that first night was delicious, with traditional meat, rice, beans (lentils), and broccoli.  On a side note, the water that they are provided to drink (supposedly the "safe" water) smells like fish food...